A Benjamin Pollock's Toyshop Original
Specifications
A Romeo and Juliet tale between the sea and the earth. Should a Water Nymph fall in love with a human? A melancholic love story inspired by the water sprites of Slavic mythology and best known as the opera by Dvořák.
Marìa Gordon has created this highly decorative paper theatre to cut out and make for Benjamin Pollock’s Toyshop cleverly telling the story in two reversible scenes with Rusalka as a paper doll with a folk dress to transform into a human when on land.
‘Ježibaba’, the witch helps Rusalka to pursue a romance with the Prince by offering to transform her mermaid’s fin into legs to enable her to walk on land. However, for this, the witch takes aways Rusalka’s voice. The naive, lovestruck Rusalka does not realise that behind this contract is her own father and that if the Prince rejects Rusalka’s love, then the witch’s curse means she will be forever be stuck in a murky dark watery limbo and he will be condemned to eternal damnation.
Sacrificing her voice means that she is ridiculed by the Prince’s inner circle as she cannot speak. They cruelly turn on her, and plot and plan to matchmake the Prince with a human princess.
The human princess is successful in her seduction of the Prince and Ježibaba’s spell comes into effect. Rusalka is an outcast from both land and water, rejected by the humans and her water nymph sisters.
Inconsolable, she speaks to the Prince through the moon. He wants only peace and insists that Rusalka kisses him, them both knowing that this will send him to his death. The star crossed lovers cannot be saved by the moon and the mortal Prince succumbs to his fate. Rusalka glimpsed at human love but it could not save her soul and so she sinks to the bottom of the lake where she will live in melancholic oblivion.
Printed on off-set litho in London, this newly commissioned work comes in a branded decorative folder. 7 prints to construct the theatre come with an illustrated booklet containing the synopsis and full instructions.
Immerse yourself in the story of Rusalka by making this paper theatre by Marìa Gordon. Experience Marìa’s artwork come alive in three dimensions as you bring her imaginative world to life with your own hands.
- Illustrator
- Marìa Gordon
- Height
About Marìa Gordon
Maria Gordon creates silent stories about creatures and landscapes from other worlds, who come to be companions. Inspired by the Cantabrian grey sea and beech forests of her childhood, Maria’s work blends dreams, memories, nature and spirit folklore.
